#super proud daddy!Finnick

[jhsgf82]

Feel the Beat, Always

Here’s a snippet of a new fic. More to come later. @daydreamsandcaffeine​ and I watched this movie, and it was just too cute and so Everlark, and I just couldn’t resist Everlarking it. Fantastic supporting cast, btw. Based on Feel the Beat (Netflix, 2020).  

Katniss raises her arms above her head, stretching her lean, lithe body; she links her thumbs, bends her knees, and arches her chest as she drops her head back, leading with her fingers. Slowly, she goes into a full standing backbend, then drops down and catches herself. She bends her elbows and goes into a reverse tabletop position for about ten seconds, then lowers herself down to the mat.  

She’s been up since sunrise, limbering up and running through her dance routine, twice. Now she’s completing her post-dance stretches. Maybe she’ll go through the routine once more, though, for good measure. 

After all, her big audition is TODAY. 

And big shot producer Alma Coin is going to be there. 

Dance is Katniss Everdeen’s life. And she’s good at it, really good. Oh, she’s not a star by any means, but she’s managed to land a couple of larger roles which have gotten her name out there, and she’s kept steady gigs in the chorus line of several popular stage shows. It’s been enough to make a living without having to work two or three jobs, which is a small miracle here in New York City. Her place isn’t a penthouse, obviously, nor is it a rat’s hole‒it’s just a simple loft, and it’s just right for her. What she loves best is that there’s plenty of space to dance. 

A small town girl leaving her small town life to make it as a performer in “the big city” is relatively unheard of–well, no, not unheard of. It’s all too common, actually. What’s not common is to be successful at it. But Katniss has talent, and she’s aware of it. She can sing; she can dance, and if only she could act, she’d be a triple threat; however, she sucks at acting. But that’s okay. She doesn’t really need to; she can make her body work for her when her words and facial expressions fail her. 

Katniss goes into a butterfly stretch. 

Her mangy old muddy-orange cat, Buttercup, whom she inherited when her grandmother passed, comes up beside her, brushing her with his tail as he passes. He stops beside her to stretch out, too, elongating his body and sticking his butt in the air as he digs his nails into the gray and beige geometric-patterned rug. Then he trots over and jumps up on her couch and assumes the loaf position. Lazily, he watches her with rotten squash-colored eyes. He blinks at her once, and Katniss’s lips twitch.   

Buttercup, an unlikely companion (and one she didn’t like very much at first), is quite possibly the ugliest cat she’s ever seen with his mashed-in nose and half an ear missing. He was definitely unwanted at first, but he’s grown on her. He’s her only company, truly, the only person in her life, and he’s not even a person. Katniss hasn’t had a date in…some number of years, but that’s okay. She doesn’t really need anyone; she only needs the stage. 

As for family, there’s only her dad. She was an only child, and her mom left when she was little. She does try to call her father at least once a week. They don’t have much to talk about, but they get each other all the same. For one, he’s good about not guilt-tripping her for never coming to visit; he’s just happy to hear her voice. It’s not that she doesn’t want to go back to New Hope, West Virginia, or maybe she doesn’t. Admittedly, it would be too hard to see…certain persons, namely one, and of course, she’d have to hear everyone drone on and on endlessly about how she abandoned the town to make her way in NYC.